U.S. shares higher at close of trade; Dow Jones Industrial Average up 3.29%

Investing.com – U.S. equities were higher at the close on Friday, as gains in the Technology , Basic Materials and Industrials sectors propelled shares higher.

At the close in NYSE, the Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 3.29%, while the S&P 500 index gained 3.43%, and the NASDAQ Composite index added 4.26%.

The biggest gainers of the session on the Dow Jones Industrial Average were Intel Corporation (NASDAQ: INTC ), which rose 6.14% or 2.73 points to trade at 47.22 at the close. Caterpillar Inc (NYSE: CAT ) added 5.46% or 6.64 points to end at 128.15 and Boeing Co (NYSE: BA ) was up 5.20% or 16.18 points to 327.08 in late trade.

Biggest losers included Verizon Communications Inc (NYSE: VZ ), which added 0.25% or 0.14 points to trade at 56.36 in late trade. Walmart Inc (NYSE: WMT ) added 0.62% or 0.58 points to end at 93.44 and UnitedHealth Group Incorporated (NYSE: UNH ) gained 1.17% or 2.77 points to 239.62.

The top performers on the S&P 500 were Mattel Inc (NASDAQ: MAT ) which rose 12.30% to 10.41, Advanced Micro Devices Inc (NASDAQ: AMD ) which was up 11.44% to settle at 19.00 and Netflix Inc (NASDAQ: NFLX ) which gained 9.72% to close at 297.57.

The worst performers were Advance Auto Parts Inc (NYSE: AAP ) which was down 2.48% to 158.81 in late trade, KKR & Co LP (F: KR51 ) which lost 2.09% to settle at 16.43 and Gap Inc (NYSE: GPS ) which was down 1.51% to 25.40 at the close.

The top performers on the NASDAQ Composite were Phunware Inc (NASDAQ: PHUN ) which rose 102.09% to 54.06, Cancer Genetics Inc (NASDAQ: CGIX ) which was up 65.17% to settle at 0.440 and National American University (NASDAQ: NAUH ) which gained 42.06% to close at 0.270.

The worst performers were Draper Oakwood Technology Acquisition Inc Class A (NASDAQ: RBZ ) which was down 31.22% to 1.30 in late trade, Endologix Inc (NASDAQ: ELGX ) which lost 15.54% to settle at 0.60 and Boxlight Corp Class A (NASDAQ: BOXL ) which was down 14.71% to 1.63 at the close.

Advancing stocks outnumbered falling ones by 2768 to 316 and 63 ended unchanged; on the Nasdaq Stock Exchange, 2335 rose and 334 declined, while 44 ended unchanged on the New York Stock Exchange.

The CBOE Volatility Index , which measures the implied volatility of S&P 500 options, was down 15.99% to 21.38.

In commodities trading, Gold Futures for February delivery was down 0.65% or 8.40 to $1286.40 a troy ounce. Meanwhile, Crude oil for delivery in February rose 2.42% or 1.14 to hit $48.23 a barrel, while the March Brent oil contract rose 2.41% or 1.35 to trade at $57.30 a barrel.

EUR/USD was up 0.06% to 1.1399, while USD/JPY rose 0.77% to 108.47.

The US Dollar Index Futures was down 0.13% at 95.755.